"On our repeating our proposal to purchase reindeer we again met with a refusal, on which we struck our tent and commenced our return journey. We came on board on the 18th March at 3 o'clock P.M., after a march of four hours and three-quarters.
"The way to the reindeer camp rose and fell gently. The snow was hard and even, so that we could go forward rapidly. On the way out four foxes and some ravens were seen. At one place we found a large number of lemming passages excavated through the snow in an oblique direction towards the ground. Most of them were scratched up by foxes. The descent to an untouched lemming nest was cylindrical, and four and a half centimetres in diameter. During both days we had snow, and a thick and foggy atmosphere, so that we could see only a short distance before us, we did not however go astray, thanks to the good eyes and strongly developed sense of locality of our guide, the native"
Brusewitz's and Nordquist's Excursion to Nutschoitjin
Of this Nordquist gives the following account:—
"On the 20th March, at 9 o'clock A.M. Lieut Brusewitz, boatswain Lustig, the Norwegian hunters Johnsen and Sievertsen, the Chukch Notti, and I, left the Vega. Our equipment, which consisted of provisions for eight days, cooking apparatus, canvas tent, india-rubber mattrasses, reindeer-skin pesks, &c., we drew after us on a sledge. At 2.45 P.M. we came to Nutschoitjin (Coregonus Lake). During our journey we passed a river which flows between Nutschoitjin and the mountain Hotschkeanranga, about ten English miles south of this lake and falls into the great lagoon south of Prtlekaj. Farther into the interior this river, according to Notti's statement, flows through several lakes: he also informed us that in summer it abounds very much in salmon (lienne). Some sandy hills formed the watershed between it and Nutschoitjin. The only animal we saw during our outward journey was a fox. On the other hand we found traces of hares, ptarmigan, and a couple of lemmings. After we had found a suitable camping-place, we began to build a snow-house, which, however, we could not get ready till next day.
"On the 21st Brusewitz and I went out to view our nearest surroundings. On a hill north of the lake, where Potentilla, Carex, and Poa stuck up through the snow-covering, we saw a large number of traces of the fox, the hare, and the ptarmigan. We employed the 22nd in cutting some holes in the ice, which was about one and a half metres thick, and in setting a net. For I wished to ascertain what species of Coregonus it is which, according to Notti's statement, occurs in abundance in this lake. At the place where the net was set there was something more than a metre of water under the ice The bottom consisted of mud. When we cut a hole in the middle of the lake in order to get deeper water we found that the ice, one and a half metres thick there, reached to the bottom.
"Next morning we got in the net eleven Coregoni, of which the largest were about thirty-five centimetres long. Although the weather was grey and we could not see very far, we went the same day to the hill Hotschkeanranga; partly to determine its height, and partly from its summit, which is visible for a great distance, to get a view of the appearance of the surrounding country. After crossing the river which flows between Nutschoitjin and Hotchkeanranga, we began to ascend the long slope on whose summit Hotchkanrakenljeut (Hotchkeanranga's head) rises with steep sides above the surrounding country. Over the slope were scattered loose blocks of stone of an eruptive rock. The crest of "the head" was also closely covered with loose stones. On the north of wind side these stones were covered with a hard beaten crust of snow nearly two feet thick, on the south side most of them were bare. According to Brusewitz the southern slopes are still steeper than the northern. South of the hill he saw a large valley—probably a lake—through which flows the river which we crossed.
"As on the outward journey I went with Notti, he advised me to offer a little food and brandy to the Spirit of the Lake, itjaken kamak, in order to get good net fishing. On my inquiring what appearance he had, Notti replied "uinga lilapen," "I have never seen him." Besides this spirit there are in his view others also in streams, in the earth, and in some mountains. The Chukches also sacrifice to the sun and moon. On the other hand they do not appear, as some other races, to pay any sort of worship to their departed friends. When I gave him a biscuit and bade him offer it, he made with the heel a little depression in the snow on Nutschoitjin, crumbled a little bit of the biscuit in pieces, and threw the crumbs into the hollow. The rest of the biscuit he gave back, declaring that kamak did not require more, and that we should now have more fish in the net than the first time. Notti said also that the Chukches are wont to sacrifice something for every catch. Thus have probably arisen all the collections of bear and seal skulls and reindeer horns, which we often saw on the Chukch coast, especially on eminences.
"After we had read off the aneroid, we speedily made our way to the snow-house, because during the interval a violent storm of drifting snow had arisen, so that we could not see more than half a score of paces before us. On the slope below "the head" we had already on our way thither seen traces of two wild reindeer. Notti said that there are a few of them on the hill the whole winter. The greater number, however, draw farther southward, and approach the coast only during summer. Johnson had wounded an owl (Strix nyctea), which however made its escape. On the 24th snow fell and drifted during the whole day, so that we could not go out to shoot. On the 25th we came on board again.
"According to the aneroid observations made during the journey, the highest summit we visited had a height of 197 metres."